She crosses at 2:47:14, arms up.
Her photos beat her to the banana.
Eight thousand runners, tens of thousands of frames off the course — and the old way is a bib-number form on a clunky site, three days later, that half the field never bothers with. BrandStudio matches every runner by face: one selfie, and the start corral, mile 8, and the arms-up finish land in a personal gallery on your race’s brand — often before the banana’s gone.
You know how this usually goes.
The finish clock reads 2:47:14 once. The photo surfaces Thursday — if the runner digs for it at all.
Finding one runner in tens of thousands of frames means typing a bib number into a clunky site and scrolling for twenty minutes. Half the field gives up before they find the shot.
The title sponsor paid for the finish arch. The photos that would prove it was worth it sit in a gallery nobody opens.
Here’s the plan.
We’ve shot race day. You get a three-step plan and every runner gets their finish.
Capture
Your photographers — one crew or several companies — cover the corral, the course, and the finish arch. Every frame from every shooter syncs into one gallery live. Runners enroll with one selfie: from the registration email, at packet pickup, or after they cross.
BrandStudio brands + delivers
Every photo lands on your race’s domain with your logo on every page and the sponsor’s overlay on every share. Face Match reads face and outfit together to pull each runner’s frames into one personal gallery, then texts it to their phone — no app, no bib-number form.
You watch the shares roll in
Runners post the arms-up shot the same afternoon with your race’s name on it. The sponsor watches their arch travel through every repost. Registration for next year opens to a field that remembers actually getting their photos.
BrandStudio never shows up in the link, the gallery, or the photo — not even in the URL. Runners only ever see your race and your sponsors.
Race day, corral to finish line.
Thousands of runners, one course, zero bib-number spreadsheets. Here’s the day.
- 5:30 AM
Packet pickup
Runners grab their bib and take a ten-second selfie. That selfie — not a bib number — is how their photos will find them.
Guest sees: Ten seconds, done, go stretch. - 7:00 AM
The start
Corral energy, nervous smiles, the horn. Shooters at the arch feed the gallery from the first stride.
- On course
Mile markers
Photographers at the key miles — every frame streams in live, matching runners as it lands.
- The finish
The finish-line photo
Arms up, clock overhead — on the runner’s phone before their heart rate settles. That’s the photo they post, with your event’s name on it.
Guest sees: Their finish, delivered at the finish. - 11:00 AM
Festival village
Medal selfies at the booth, family reunions on camera — the after-party fills the same gallery.
- Next day
The sponsor wrap
Delivery counts, gallery opens, share reach — per sponsor banner on course. Renewal math, done.
You see: Sponsor report in one click.
Every runner finds their finish. That’s why they come back.
One selfie replaces the bib-number form and the twenty-minute scroll. The corral shot, the grind at mile 8, and the finish-line moment land in one personal gallery on your race’s brand — texted while the medal is still around their neck. Sponsors see their arch in every share all weekend, and next year’s registration opens to runners who tell their friends the photos just showed up.
- One selfie finds every frame — no bib-number form, no giant gallery to scroll.
- Your race’s brand and the sponsor’s arch ride into every shared photo.
- Pre-registered runners get their photos by text — often before they leave the chute.
How it actually works.
Every claim above is a feature you can point to. Here’s the mechanism.
One selfie finds every frame, corral to finish line
A runner takes one selfie and gets every photo they appear in — the start corral, the bridge at mile 4, the arms-up finish. Matching reads face and outfit together, and a runner wears the same kit from the gun to the medal, so it holds up on side profiles, sunglasses, and full-stride motion — the frames a race course is made of.
- One selfie, every photo they appear in — matched automatically
- Face + outfit dual-signal matching — the same kit all race makes it stronger
- A new frame of them lands? They get a text — no checking back
Pre-register the field and the photos deliver themselves
Import your registration list and runners are enrolled before the gun. Every matched photo goes to their phone by text or email as it's shot — no app to download, no gallery to remember to check. The finish-line photo often lands before they've finished the banana. Runners who skip pre-registration enroll with a selfie after they cross.
- Import the registration list — the field is enrolled before the gun
- Text and email delivery, automatic on every new match
- Late enrollment by selfie at the finish — nobody is left out
One gallery on your race’s domain — not a photo-vendor site
Every frame from every photographer lands in one gallery on your domain, your logo and colors on every page — not a third-party photo site with your race buried in a dropdown. Runners browse by course point or distance, or find their own face, and downloads are one tap on a phone standing in the finish chute.
- Custom domain with the race’s logo and colors — never ours
- Organize by course point, distance, or wave
- One-tap downloads, on a phone
Six shooters on the course, one live gallery
Start corral, the bridge at mile 4, the turnaround, the finish arch — assign photographers to course points and every frame syncs into the same gallery as it's shot. Matching runs across all of them, so a runner's start-line shot and finish-line shot come from different photographers and still land in the same personal gallery.
- Every photographer’s frames land in one gallery, live
- Matching runs across all shooters — one runner, one gallery
- Works for one crew or several companies covering the same race
The sponsor’s arch in every photo a runner shares
The title sponsor paid for the finish arch — and it's already in the frame. Add a sponsor-branded overlay and their mark rides on every photo the runner texts, posts, and reposts. The renewal conversation goes differently when the sponsor has watched their banner travel through feeds all weekend.
- Sponsor-branded overlays applied automatically on every photo
- The overlay travels with every share and repost
- Swap overlays per event — this year’s title sponsor, next year’s too
Edit in Lightroom at the finish tent. Publish without leaving it.
Your photography crew keeps their workflow. Watch Folder picks up exports from Lightroom, Capture One, or any editing app and publishes them straight to the branded gallery — branding applied, faces matched, texts queued. And runners who'd rather not appear can opt out: per-event privacy controls keep matching their call.
- Watch Folder publishes exports from Lightroom, Capture One, or any app
- Branding and matching run automatically on every export
- Per-event privacy controls — any runner can opt out of matching
Suggested tools for races
Find-by-face for the whole field, race-day delivery, and a gallery on your race’s domain.
Race photography questions
How do runners find their photos without typing in a bib number?
One selfie. Face Match returns every photo they appear in — start corral, mid-course, the finish — in a personal gallery. Matching reads face and outfit together, and a runner wears the same kit from the gun to the medal, so it holds up on side profiles, sunglasses, and full-stride motion. No bib-number form, no scrolling a giant gallery.
Can photos deliver on race day, not days later?
Yes. Import your registration list so runners are enrolled before the gun, or let them enroll with a selfie at packet pickup. Every matched photo texts out as it's shot — the finish-line photo often lands before they've left the chute.
Whose branding is on the gallery?
The race's. Every photo lands in one gallery on your domain with your logo and colors on every page — BrandStudio never appears, not even in the URL. Sponsor overlays ride along on every shared photo if you want them.
We have several photography companies covering the course. Does that work?
Yes. Multiple photographers — one crew or several companies — feed the same event live. Matching runs across all of them, so a runner's corral shot and finish shot land in the same personal gallery even when different shooters took them.
Our photographers edit in Lightroom. Does the workflow still work?
Yes. Watch Folder picks up exports from Lightroom, Capture One, or any editing app and publishes them to the branded gallery automatically — branding applied, faces matched, delivery queued. The crew keeps the workflow they already have.
What about runners who don't want their photos matched?
Per-event privacy controls let any runner opt out of face matching. It's their call, race by race, and opting out removes them from matching without touching the rest of the gallery.
Every runner finds their finish. That’s why they come back.
One selfie, every frame — corral to finish line, texted on your race’s brand while the medal is still around their neck. Sponsors see the arch in every share. You just run the race.